Krauthammer: Standard Operating Procedure Must Be Suspended, Ebola Is Lethal

On Thursday’s “Special Report” on Fox News, Bret Baier discussed how the normal rules of treating infectious diseases is no longer adequate considering the recent Ebola cases emerging in the United States.Fox contributor and syndicated columnist, Charles Krauthammer, commented that the rules of privacy need to be respected in normal circumstances, yet this potential epidemic requires a change in protocol.Krauthammer, who is also a physician, said that the hospital in Texas should have released the first woman’s name to alert anybody who had contact with her.

“So these people at this hospital in Texas were doing it for the first time and they did it terribly wrong, exposing all kinds of people. They are playing by the rules of normal infectious diseases and the rules aren’t normal here. This is a pathogen which kills 70 percent of those who get it.

“Let me give you one example of not changing the rules.They withheld the name of the first nurse who got this for a day. Why in God’s name? Yes, I understand the privacy issue, but if you say the way to control this is by having the contacts contacted, the fastest way to alert anybody who was in contact with her is to give out her name.And yet, for a day they withheld it on the grounds of, in normal times, of privacy.

“We have to suspend the normal times and treat this as a real danger. Even though it is not widespread, it is lethal if caught.”